Path Improves Security in Mobile App

 

Path, the mobile social network, announced on Monday that it had added a privacy feature to its mobile application. The update comes two months after it was discovered that some app makers, including Path, were copying people’s address book data without permission. In some instances the data was stored unencrypted on company servers.

“We take privacy and security seriously, and we believe your data deserves to be well protected,” the company said in a short blog post. It went on to say that Path version 2.1.1, which is in the iTunes App Store, enhances security by adding a protective layer called hashing to data sent to Path’s servers. Hashing turns text into an unintelligible string of letters and numbers and in turn anonymizes the information being sent to a server.

“This means last names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, Twitter handles and Facebook IDs” will all be hashed, the blog post said.

Since the address book debacle began this year, Path and dozens of other app makers have come under questioning from Congress about their practices. Last week, lawmakers sent letters to 34 app developers requesting information about their data-collection techniques.

Two congressmen sent Apple a letter last month asking Timothy Cook, Apple’s chief executive, to answer questions about privacy problems in the company’s iTunes App Store. The letters were co-written by Representative Henry A. Waxman, a California Democrat, and Representative G.K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina.

Path’s update should help quell some of the ire about data handling.  Path’s post concluded: “We hope our actions set a new standard in this field as we strive to serve you, our users, first.”

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